UNITED KINGDOM – Citizens’ Rights Under the Withdrawal Agreement Versus a No-Deal Scenario

On 14 November 2018, the United Kingdom (UK) government reached an agreement with the European Union (EU) on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The deal, which still needs to be ratified by both the UK and European parliaments, includes arrangements about the legal status of EU citizens in the UK post Brexit.

On 6 December 2018 the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) published a policy paper outlining the UK government’s proposals for protecting citizens’ rights in case the UK leaves the EU without an agreed and ratified withdrawal deal.

Here we examine how the UK government’s proposed no deal arrangements for EU citizens in the UK differ from those in the withdrawal agreement.